The E-10 has four ganged vacuum pumps that work together to draw down a pretty good vacuum very quickly. There is a huge vacuum tank (made out of large-diameter PVC pipe) under the cab. I don't know about the others here, but my brakes are outstanding. Very good stoping power.

My only complaint is that the ABS system, which is there, doesn't work. According to a Solectria tech I spoke to, they never were able to get the ABS system to operate without the truck's original computer, which I guess they removed when they did the conversion.

It sure would be cool if we had an automotive tech in our group who could figure out how to get the ABS system working!

Who made your conversion? Can you find the vacuum pump(s) on yours?_________________Tom Hudson
Site Administrator

Thanks for your answer. No - I don't have a problem locating the vacuum pump as it is loud enough to find it However, my brakes are just not 'brisk' enough and I was told (by a brake shop) that the little GAST vacuum pump is just not delivering enough (in terms of volume or flow) of vacuum for the big booster.

So - not wanting to re-invent the wheel I was thinking about how the Solectria people addressed the issue. Well - I guess I know now. Four! pumps are going to deliver plenty of suction. And that is what I would need: Plenty of suction

Michaela,
Do you have the E-10 Service Manual that shows most of the systems, parts numbers & wiring Diagrams used by Solectria? If not, it can be e-mailed to you.

Phil:

Thanks, got it. I should have thought about Solectria trucks before I went investigating for weeks about how to get my brakes working right. Seems that a small single vacuum pump (Gast, 0.5 qft) is not capable to deliver the necessary vacuum required by the S-10s booster. So - ordered another Gast pump, this one goes all the way to 25 inches and has a rating of about 1.1 qft. In combination with the old pump, I am getting three times the vaccum I had before. But I am now needing a bigger DC-DC converter - I am afraid it never ends.

Michaela,
Dont get that bigger dc converter just yet. I think your brake problem is a cobination of the vacuum pump being small (which you solved) and the lack of an accumulator. The E10s all have one located under the passenger side, this sounds complicated but it is just a large piece of 5 inch diameter PVC pipe 40 inches long. You can build one, it has a cap glued on each end and two hoses coming out , one for the pump and one for the brake assist.
If you build one of these it sould fix your problem.
Your brake assist needs large amounts of air removed (vacuum) fast and this allows it to dump into the accumulater much faster than the average pump can pump it out.
Good Luck,
Jimmy

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